Lombardi has been doing what is necessary so I gave him a B. However, I am thinking most of us want him to stay the hell away from free agents this year. 😉

diehrdkingsfan38

C+ and C

lakingzfan

Unfortunately we have to get a free agent defenceman. I vote for commodore. he plays with an edge, that is what this defense needs.
I do predict stuart will be back. Seems DL trusts players he as worked wih before and i dont think stuart did that bad a job. If stuart can play like he did towards the end of the season, laying big hits, then i wouldnt mind him being back. only for 1-2 years though. Time enough to grow our own dman.

Vahe

“C-” for Crawford
“C” for Lombardi (Would have been higher if not for his free agent signings)

m

Crawford = D

I was going to give him a C- due to what he had to work with. Then I remembered all those quotes throughout the year. The excuses–“Fatigue”–as if no other teams deal with this. How he dodged the team toughness question in the interview with The Don. “We should be better. We have to get better.” The team as a whole did better by the end, but Crawford did not change up his “system” to fit what we had. Our players had to catch up to a system that was never really working before. Plus there were those 2 eight-game losing streaks. Are coaches suppose to motivate too?
Then there’s his egregious use of “compete” as a noun. Maybe I should have given him a D-.

Lombardi = C

His draft and building the prospect supply line has been superb. Though we know they are fillers, his free agent signings, however, have not been–Calder, Nagy, Handzus to join Thornton and Willsie…but not keeping a gritty hardworker, fighter like Kostopoulos.
I expected the Kings to be where Phoenix was this year. Fighting for a playoff spot into early spring. Not out of it at the beginning of winter.

anthony

MC – C-
-The line juggling is better suited for the circus
-playing Army on the second line and PP unit
-lack of player motivation

Considering the state of the organization when DL took over, I give him a B. I put a hell of a lot more emphasis on his work with the prospect list (which will see benefits for many years to come) and not so much on the free agent signings. This may be the deepest prospect list the Kings have ever had, and DL has helped accomplish that in less than two years. Yeah, his free agent signings leave much to be desired so far, but since this team wasn’t going to do much the last couple years anyway, I don’t see it as that big of a deal. However, he will need to step up his game in this area big time this summer and next.

Anonymous

Ask this question after the draft.

nykingfan

I gave DL a “B”.
What he’s done with the minor league system and the prospects we have in Juniors would have earned him an A…unfortunately his brutal free agent signings dropped him to a B in my opinion.
I think when we grade him again in a couple of years, most will be grading him an A.

nykingfan

I also gave Crawford a B.
I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to compete for a playoff spot this year, but I can’t pin the blame all on him.
When LaBarbara went down, the goaltending was anything but NHL caliber. It was more ECHL caliber. I can’t blame him for the poor goaltending.
Also, the loss of Cammy was huge. We didn’t have any depth at that time to make up for the loss of one of our best offensive players.
As I’ve mentioned before…this team played hard the 2nd half of the season and I think Crawford deserves a lot of credit for this.
This guy won a cup, so he’s not chopped liver. I don’t know many successful coaches that didn’t have talented players…especially in goal and on the blue line.
Scotty Bowman wasn’t going to win with this team.
Lets see what happens next year when he should have a lot better team…hopefully!

Jeff A

I think folks are being too easy on DL. Yes, he can’t be truly graded until his guys are the core of the team. But his free agent signings this year were an unmitigated disaster.

We finished next to last in the entire league, so giving either of these guys a grade above C makes no sense to me. If you give Crawford and Lombardi B grades, the players must have all been below F. Some blame for this season must fall on the coach and GM, else what point do the jobs have?

Anonymous

I gave Crawford an F…but want a U after it… The man just can’t coach his way out of a paper bag… FIRE THE SUCKER…NOW!!!

Lombardi deserves a C+/B-… His drafting was great…the majority of his free agent signings…not so… He’ll get an A if he dumps the beachball from the roaster…

Guzman

D- for Crawford. 29th place. Really bad defensive plan. No guts when there should have been points of order discussed with the dropping of gloves, coaches must protect the #1 players and goalies. The team looked passionless many nights. Yeah D-, less than poor.

C+ for Lombardi. Great moves and big mistakes. I think the results for GM’s take longer to qualify than for coaches. He is better than average but not quite to “good” yet. He should not go “off the board” with this years draft or I will have to change this grade. Last year’s choices of Moller and Simmons kept him outta the dog house. (But wouldn’t it have been better to take Alzner, a more quickly NHL qualified player last year and then the puck mover this year?)

How could anyone have given A’s to either of these guys?

Rob B.

Everyone is dogging DL for his free agent signings, but back in July they seemed pretty good. Handzus wasn’t as healthy as expected and seemed to get better as the season progressed (yet still below expectations). Nagy was a gamble. Calder was pretty good early, but his injury hindered him quite a bit. Preissing and Stuart seemed to suck at the beginning, but played better later in the season.

Yes, in hindsight the free agents signings were a bust, but initially they looked like pretty good pick ups.

This comment may possibly make it’s exasperation manifest. It opinion careens promptly straight into pet peeves which may have practically nothing related to the article, focusing rather on generalizations with reference to gals, contests, bicyclists, combined with an race shown by having an adjective utilised as being a noun. The coded offending statement is supplied, followed instantly by claims of the race card to be played.

Who is behind Inside the Kings blog?

Elliott Teaford is an award-winning hockey reporter based in Southern California and witnessed the L.A. Kings win the Stanley Cup in 2012 and in '14. He grew up playing outdoors on the streets of Philadelphia. He also watched the Flyers bully their way to consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1970s, and makes no excuses for their quasi-legal play.

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